Thursday News: “‘A wrecking ball’: experts warn Trump’s win sets back global climate action”; “After Win, Trump Fans Admit ‘Project 2025 Is the Agenda'”; ” A ‘republic if we can keep it.’ Perhaps we cannot.”; “Analysis: Harris wins Virginia by losing lots of it”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, November 7. How’s everyone holding up? Are you feeling like me, that there are likely VERY dark days ahead, but also that we have no choice but to fight back, including right here in Virginia (e.g., next year there are elections for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General and the *entire* House of Delegates)? In the end, “checking out” really doesn’t seem like a responsible option to me, although it’s certainly an understandable feeling to have, given the disaster of the 2024 elections… 🙁

• ‘A wrecking ball’: experts warn Trump’s win sets back global climate action (“Election of a ‘climate denier’ to US presidency poses ‘major threat to the planet’, environmentalists say”)
• Trump victory a blow to climate action, experts say
• U.S. Election Sends Alarming Message for Global Climate Efforts
• Donald Trump can’t stop global climate action. If we stick together, it’s the US that will lose out
• World Leaders Congratulate Trump; Putin Pretends Not to Be Thrilled
• On Ukraine’s front and in Kyiv, hope and pragmatism compete when it comes to Trump’s election
• 50 European leaders assess how Trump will affect their fortunes and seek a common stance on Russia
• An 8-hour Russian drone barrage keeps Kyiv on edge as the war in Ukraine nears 1,000 days
• Biden team debates how to ‘Trump-proof’ foreign policy (Good luck with that!)
• The Trump contagion is already in Europe — and it’s spreading
• How I’m coping with a Trump win (“Deal with the awful reality by not letting the former president own your head.”)
• A ‘republic if we can keep it.’ Perhaps we cannot. (“In this election, Americans have no one to blame but themselves.”)
• Wall Street Salivates Over a New Trump Boom (“The epic postelection rally augurs big, lucrative opportunities, according to investors and analysts.”)
• America Meets Its Judgment Day (“Trump’s victory signals a national embrace of the politics of hate and a possible fascist future.” Yep, we’re f’ed.)
• Trump’s return to White House sets stage for far-reaching immigration crackdown
• America Did This to Itself (“This time, the nation was on notice. Back in 2016, those of us who supported Donald Trump at least had the excuse of not knowing how sociopathy can present itself, and we at least had the conceit of believing that the presidency was not just a man…”)
• Grappling With the Catastrophe (“The voters wanted change, and they’re going to get it.” “With this vote, Americans are turning their backs on basic decency, the founding documents, and the social contract. This lying cretin was seen a few days ago pantomiming fellatio on a microphone. It’s not as if his policy chops somehow counterbalance his vulgarity, cruelty, and self-absorption.”))
• Trump Voters Got What They Wanted (“Those who expect that Donald Trump will hurt others, and not them, are likely to be unpleasantly surprised”)
• US election briefing: Trump on track to win popular vote as millions of Biden voters desert Harris (“Donald Trump is set to equal his vote total from the 2020 US presidential election, but Kamala Harris will fall far short of the 81 million who voted for Biden”)
• What Looked Like a Toss-Up Turned Into a Red Wave. Did Pollsters Get It Wrong? (“While many states were more or less as tight as the polls suggested, the errors were all in the same direction: underestimating Trump.”)
• Pollsters Were Blindsided by Breadth of Trump’s Victory
• Trump thinks presidents have near-total power: there will be little to stop him in his second term
• Project 2025 Is Here (“The 920-page document lays out a detailed far-right vision for Trump’s return to the White House — and touches on every aspect of American life.”)
• After Win, Trump Fans Admit “Project 2025 Is the Agenda”
• Protecting Democracy From Trump Now In Hands Of Congressional GOP, Supreme Court (“To date, neither group has shown interest in standing up to a Republican who attempted a coup the last time he was in office.”)
• Democrats suffer a drubbing: 10 key takeaways from Trump’s election win
• The Path Is Clear For Donald Trump To Reshape The Courts. Again.
• Law professor sounds alarm on Trump’s plan to strip government worker protections
• Results of national exit poll on US presidential election (“Harris wins 53% of women voters nationwide; Trump wins 45%. Trump’s share is up 3 percentage points from a 2020 exit poll”; “Trump wins 46% of Hispanic voters nationwide; Harris wins 52%. Trump’s share is up 14 percentage points from a 2020 exit poll.”)
• Trump sets GOP record with Latino voters, poll says
• Kamala Harris concedes with dignity and grace
• Trump’s triumph threatens an already battered democracy, experts say (“American democracy simply wasn’t set up to ‘deal with an aspiring autocrat,’ especially with a willing electorate”)
• With Republicans Claiming the Senate and Possibly the House, Congress Expected to Reverse Course on Climate
• Kamala’s Wasted Youth (“Sure, young white dudes broke for Trump. But Harris also underperformed with almost every kind of young person: young white women, young Black voters, and young Latinos.”)
• The Miscalculations That Sent Kamala Harris to a Devastating Loss (“Her campaign misread an electorate that was more wound up about inflation and immigration than about Donald Trump’s character”)
• Will a Woman Ever Be President? (Sure doesn’t seem like it, sad to say.)
• For Black Women, ‘America Has Revealed to Us Her True Self’
• Trump Dodged the Law. Here’s Who to Blame. (“Start with Merrick Garland, Mitch McConnell and the Supreme Court.”)
• Kamala Harris’s Big Bets Just Didn’t Pay Off
• Why Kamala Harris lost the election (This is dumb. First of all, Harris couldn’t make a “clean break from the last four years” even if she wanted to, since she was the VP in the Biden-Harris administration! Second, the Biden-Harris administration accomplished a great deal, even if people don’t believe it, so why wouldn’t she embrace that and trumpet it?)
• With the Election of Donald Trump, Our Fellow Citizens Are About to Get Exactly What They Want (“There is nothing that God, man, or the Constitution can do about it, because we did it to ourselves.”)
• Blame Biden (“Harris was probably doomed from the jump.” What else could Biden have really done, though?)
• Donald Trump’s Second Term Is Joe Biden’s Real Legacy (“How the President’s protracted refusal to step aside as the Democratic nominee has imperilled his policy achievements—and the country.”)
• Insurrectionists Are Lining Up for the Pardons Trump Has Promised to Dispense
• ‘This is a realignment’: Shattered Democrats grapple with Harris’ loss
• Why Kamala Harris lost: A flawed candidate or doomed campaign?
• Harris Concedes Election to Trump, Urges Fight for Ideals
• Behind the Curtain: The most powerful Republican president of the modern era
• How Trump Won, and How Harris Lost (“He made one essential bet: that his grievances would become the grievances of the MAGA movement, and then the G.O.P., and then more than half the country. It paid off.”)
• ‘The American people are angry and want change’: Bernie Sanders slams Democrats for loss (Of course Bernie Sanders slams DEMOCRATS for the loss. That’s what he does…)
• Democrats start clawing each others’ eyes out (“Democrats are feeling dejected and shellshocked by the decisive loss of the White House and Senate.”)
• Biden congratulates Trump in phone call, invites him to meeting at White House (Vomit.)
• Special counsel Jack Smith taking steps to wind down federal cases against Trump (What a disaster – Trump got away with it, ALL of it!)
• Speculation whirls as Trump begins vetting for top White House jobs
• Trump’s allies are already jockeying for high-powered spots in his administration
• “Sometimes the Fight Takes a While—That Doesn’t Mean We Won’t Win” (No, we lost – badly, and not just for the short term.)
• RFK Jr. says ‘entire departments’ at FDA ‘have to go’ (Insanity.)
• Republicans Near Trifecta With Democrats’ House Hopes Fading
• The diminishing path to a Democratic House majority runs through California (“Democrats are pinning their hopes on California’s uncounted ballots, which could take days or weeks to tally.”)
• Far-Right Donald Trump Supporters Celebrate His Victory With Violent Memes and Calls for Executions
• ‘YOU PEOPLE SUCK!’ Bannon Vows DOJ and FBI Will ‘Pay the Price’ When Trump Re-Takes Office
• Scoop: Tom Cotton won’t join Trump cabinet
• The 5 states where environmental ballot initiatives triumphed
• Voters rejected multiple school choice measures in 2024 election
• Climate Initiatives Fare Well Across the Country Despite National Political Climate
• Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin Wins Reelection, Holding Key State For Democrats
• Virginia went blue but is flashing five bright red warning signs for Democrats
• Analysis: Harris wins Virginia by losing lots of it
• Virginians react to Trump’s resounding victory
• Vindman Wins Virginia House Race, Keeping a Key Seat in Democratic Hands
• Democrat and ex-Trump official Eugene Vindman wins House race
• Democrat Vindman, known as a Trump whistleblower, wins competitive Virginia House race
• Democrats, Republicans split Virginia’s two battleground House races
• Kiggans to serve second term representing Virginia’s 2nd District (Yuuuuck.)
• Breaking down some of the contours of Virginia’s 2024 election results
• Dem tech policy advisor beats fellow tech pro in US House election to rep Virginia’s Data Center Alley
• No flips in Virginia federal races, despite ‘national sway’ to Trump
• VA Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Mamie Locke on Trump’s Election as a “Barrabas Moment” (“Let’s be sad for a minute, but get to work against this reign of terror. I’ll be damned if I allow anyone to treat me as ‘other.'”)
• Trump lost Virginia but gained ground in slightly less blue D.C. suburbs
• Could Gov. Youngkin be leaving Va. for the Trump administration?
• SULLIVAN: Gov. Youngkin purges integrity from voter registration process
• After Trump win on economy, Virginia legislators mull tax relief
• Why have only two Virginia localities adopted ranked-choice voting? (“The biggest obstacles that we face in more localities adopting ranked-choice voting is that it’s always new, that it’s a change and I think especially changing the way we vote … in that space is hard”)
• Candidates Eye State Senate Vacancy Following Subramanyam’s 10th District Victory
• Richmond mayor-elect Danny Avula shares his outlook for the city
• Williams: Can our doctor mayor heal what ails Richmond?
• Democrats sweep local offices, school boards in Alexandria, Arlington
• With an 11-vote lead and over 1,200 ballots outstanding, Bowers declares himself ‘mayor-elect’ in Roanoke
• Two voters in NRV weigh in on why some young voters were ambivalent about Harris
• Norfolk election results: Alexander, McGee lead with Superward 7 too close to call
• D.C.-area forecast: Still abnormally warm today with a slight chance of a shower (“Cooler Friday before a better chance of rain late Sunday into early Monday.”)